Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hi Neil, Would love to. It's not an exciting railway with stuff moving all of the time. It's how I remember waiting & waiting, which for me was so relaxing.

Hi all I've been looking for a street level station ticket office for ages. I knew that "Faller" produced a kit years ago but long out of production now. Anyway one turned up on eBay, which arrived at our home this morning. Sadly, the most impressive side faces into the town street, as indeed does the Swann pub next to it. It's bit continental in style & more substantial than I originally wanted, so it also provides the railway with an admin centre.

Morning all I've moved the new ticket office to the opposite side of the Swann pub. We can see a bit more of it.

Picture using my dedicated camera.

Hi all Applied some weathering. I only ever use dry-water-colouring to weather. It can be removed or adjusted easily. It contrasts with the pre-war blacking applied to the Swann pub next to it. Pam's Tearoom is a new building so no weathering. My grandson thinks that the railway offices is a Wetherspoons. It could be. Several UK stations are now Wetherspoons. Just been told that Aberystwyth railway station is now a Wetherspoons. Can anyone verify that please?

According to Google earth, yep it sure is,

Just blether. Big boys' toys or what, most folk grow out of such, so no idea why I am so addicted to our railway. My very close chum, Mick, who so sadly died a few years ago, was quite an inspiration. He was a Technical Illustrator by trade. He modelled railways as well as painting pictures. He would capture a scene in a picture, then model it. I went to his home one day where he was changing one of his paintings, as he had moved a few trucks into another siding & liked it. I have no art ability like that, but I do exactly the same thing on our model railway, then picture it in my mind. I am convinced that if I had the ability to paint & draw, I would never have been so addicted to our in effect moving picture.

Always a snag! Time doesn't stand still. The days when my son & grandson would spend a whole evening shunting in the goods yard as I call it are long gone. The railway was designed for a minimum of two operatives, better with three, all needing to know & understand the system & controls. So, I can understand why some modellers have simpler round & round railways. Years ago on a Boxing Day, three of us worked the railway to its maximum, but it took over eight hours. So nowadays, I am content to wander into our railway room (a bit cluttered as is our home, from having Pam's bed downstairs, along with all of her medical equipment everywhere) & operate just a couple of trains, changing the picture just as Mick did on his railway. It often takes a fortnight before I see those trains again. What a pip!

Please laugh! I didn't know that there is a village in Oxfordshire, called "Brill". It had a short steam tramway a century ago. Well, I did ask you to laugh! Brill, brill & brill!

It's just inside Buckinghamshire, Philip - this was our conversation on the "Our Philip" thread in 2016

My mind must have gone, MR. No known cure.

Don't worry Philip you are not alone. I learn something each time I come on the Forum.

Hi all A busy scene at Bramble Lane, with evening fitted goods, having vans added by Class 22 diesel. The train loco Class 43xx, on its way to Banbury once it gets the all clear. Of course, it's all in the mind. This was an everyday activity at one time on a secondary branch line, providing there was sufficient interlude between through or passenger trains. The small yard adjacent to Courthouse Green often used their own Drewry shunter to add & take off stuff, which saved run round loops & time, than if the train loco had to do it.

Morning all A picture at Hounds Hill yesterday. DMU to Coventry & Leamington can be seen approaching Hounds Hill, from Priors Field on the unidirectional line, into platform 2, whilst fresh from overhaul. Austerity 2-8-0 waits with a light loaded afternoon parcels to Northampton, a running-in turn. The same scene from a different view point. The loco had indeed had a new motor fitted, a bit of trim needed to fit the latest hi-tech precision motor & gears. This loco, now nearly twenty years old, was heavily weathered by me, but I always use water colour paste to weather, so easily removed to make the loco look brand new, or ex-works condition.